Indonesia's new wave

The Sumba surf scene

Nihiwatu, Sumba island, Indonesia

But there would be no hotel and no foundation without The Wave.
Christian Sea, Ka'ale's husband, nods in assent. 'It's true, man,'
he says in his soft American lilt. A professional skipper, surfer
and lifeguard, Sea, who changed his name in homage to the ocean,
has lived on the island for six years. He speaks reverently of
Nihiwatu's left-hand break, one of the best in the world. Limited
access to it (the hotel restricts the number of surfers booked into
the resort to 10 at any one time) has given Sumba cult status. If
he hadn't protected The Wave, says Graves, the beach would now be a
Bali 'surf slum'. And without the wealthy guests attracted by the
exclusivity of Nihiwatu - whose donations account for around 90 per
cent of the foundation's funds - the islanders, who are among
Indonesia's poorest, would be considerably worse off. Graves set up
the foundation in 2001 with Sean Downs, a US tech millionaire who
came to Sumba on a surfing holiday in 2000. It now has chapters in
both Australia and the USA, and around 20,000 islanders currently
benefit from its work.